The Rs 4,900-crore petro-chemical project of the ONGC turned out to be a damp squib following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s inability to land in Mangalore on Friday due to inclement weather. The BJP immediately kicked up a storm with Mangalore MP and state BJP president D V Sadananda Gowda demanding an apology from ONGC CMD R S Sharma. They squatted at the airport, miffed at ONGC-MRPL officials announcing the cancellation of the function through the public address system before informing the guests. At one stage Gowda, accusing the bureaucracy of indulging in intentional politicking and protocol violation, threatened to move a privilege motion in the Parliament against the ONGC officials. The BJP leader withdrew the protest after Sharma apologised for the indifferent attitude. For the past couple of days Mangalore has been going through a spell of monsoon fury and there were enough indications that the PM’s plane may not be able to land. And that is what happened. Singh had to skip the foundation stone laying ceremony at Permude here on Friday. The Falcon-2000 carrying Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora also could not land at Bajpe Airport due to poor visibility. After hovering over the port city for some time the aircraft gave up at 8.40 am and returned to Mumbai. The IAF boeing 737 aircraft with the Prime Minister arrived at 11.30 am and made repeated attempts to land at Bajpe Airport, but its hour-long efforts were in vain. Later, the ONGC CMD declared that the IAF pilot had returned to Bangalore without landing at Mangalore Airport due to poor visibility. Singh, on board the aircraft, had communicated his desire to come again and participate in the laying of foundation stone to ONGC’s prestigious aromatic complex project. ‘‘I am thus advised to announce that the programme has been deferred,’’ Sharma declared. HEAVY RAINS in MALABAR: With the revival of the south-west monsoon, heavy rains lashed north Kerala on Friday, inundating low-lying areas and throwing normal life out of gear at many places. Sources at the Karipur international airport said flight schedules were likely to get affected if rain continued. 52 DEAD IN MARATHWADA: The death toll in rain-related incidents in Marathwada (Maharashtra) has risen to 52, with 18 more people killed by lightning, officials said on Friday. Latur was the worst affected district in the region with lightning claiming 13 lives. The state government has announced Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of the dead. PTI
